DENVER, Colorado, June 27. AMY Van Dyken Rouen, one of swimming’s most iconic Olympic legends, gave an exclusive interview to “Today” show host Matt Lauer from Craig Hospital in Denver, where she’s continuing to recover from an accident that severed her spine and left her partially paralyzed.

In the interview, filmed Thursday and aired this morning, Van Dyken Rouen spoke with Lauer about the challenges of this new endeavor, but as she does with every bump in the road she called it “a setback, and then we’re going to rock and roll.”

As a refresher, Van Dyken Rouen was thrown from her all-terrain vehicle in Show Low, Ariz., on June 6, severing her T12 vertebrae. She spent almost two weeks in a Phoenix hospital and now is back in her home state of Colorado for rehabilitation.

Though the odds are against her, Van Dyken Rouen said her goal is “in August, to walk out of here.”

Author: Jeff Commings

Jeff Commings is the host of several shows on SwimmingWorld.TV, including "The Morning Swim Show," which features interviews with people making headlines in aquatic sports. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism and was a nine-time NCAA All-American.